Watch: Michael Mulgrew on Technology in Education, Fixing Middle Schools and No Child Reauthorization
Being Randi Weingarten’s successor as head of the American Federation of Teachers’ New York City local isn’t easy. But Michael Mulgrew has definitely earned the ire of charter school supporters, school reformers and others for his strident opposition to lifting New York State’s restrictions on charter school growth. The role he and his counterpart at the state AFT affliate played in torpedoing the Empire State’s Race to the Top plans, in particular, came up during yesterday’s Alliance for Excellent Education pow-wow on New York City’s school reform efforts courtesy of a New York Post reporter; predictably, Mulgrew denied he had anything to do with it. Mulgrew also spent time dodging questions and comments about D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s efforts, which he politely pointed out, had nothing to do with him or New York City.
Certainly, much of what Mulgrew is doing is mere posturing. The reality is that New York City taxpayers, long-tired of woeful public schools, are satisfied that schools chieftain Joel Klein and his boss, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are on the right track. The growing pension burdens, along with the federal push for increasing charters and reforming the teaching profession, means that Mulgrew will eventually give in. If Klein can throw in another 43 percent increase in teachers salaries over time (as he did in the past decade), Mulgrew will cave in even more quickly.
At least one can say Mulgrew is thoughtful about the role of technology in education. In this clip, he says that testing and technology is as important in improving how teachers instruct their students as it is for holding schools (and teachers — though he won’t say this) accountable. He also briefly notes that middle schools must be as much a focus of the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act as high school reform.
